Author Topic: Here Come the Marines! (Part 1)  (Read 3098 times)

Online Old Wombat

  • "We'll see when I've finished whether I'm showing off or simply embarrassing myself."
  • "Define 'interesting'?"
Here Come the Marines! (Part 1)
« on: April 08, 2026, 05:17:02 PM »
The Royal Australian Marines, that is!  ;)


This is half of the build I'm doing for the Operation Downfall GB over on WIM.

Where I'm at right now;



72 of those little PE angle iron strakes. Almost as bad as doing indi-link tracks! ... Almost! 
"This is the Captain. We have a little problem with our entry sequence, so we may experience some slight turbulence and, ah, explode."

Offline Buzzbomb

  • Low Concentration Span, oft wanders betwixt projects
  • Accurate Scale representations of fictional stuff
    • Club and my stuff site
Re: Here Come the Marines! (Part 1)
« Reply #1 on: April 09, 2026, 05:29:00 AM »
Nice... not seen a lot of these built so very keen.

Offline Jeffry Fontaine

  • Unaffiliated Independent Subversive...and the last person to go for a trip on a Mexicana dH Comet 4
  • Global Moderator
  • His stash is able to be seen from space...
Re: Here Come the Marines! (Part 1)
« Reply #2 on: April 09, 2026, 08:03:29 AM »
Trumpeter or Italieri LCM kit?
"Every day we hear about new studies 'revealing' what should have been obvious to sentient beings for generations; 'Research shows wolverines don't like to be teased" -- Jonah Goldberg

Online Old Wombat

  • "We'll see when I've finished whether I'm showing off or simply embarrassing myself."
  • "Define 'interesting'?"
Re: Here Come the Marines! (Part 1)
« Reply #3 on: April 09, 2026, 05:53:33 PM »
Thanks, BT!  :smiley:


Trumpeter or Italieri LCM kit?

Trumpeter.

I've read enough to know it may have some issues BUT it's what I could get at the time & it seems to (thankfully) have less reinforcing angle-iron ridges than the Italeri kit.  ;)
"This is the Captain. We have a little problem with our entry sequence, so we may experience some slight turbulence and, ah, explode."

Online Old Wombat

  • "We'll see when I've finished whether I'm showing off or simply embarrassing myself."
  • "Define 'interesting'?"
Re: Here Come the Marines! (Part 1)
« Reply #4 on: April 12, 2026, 10:47:06 PM »
I think not having touched plastic for six months has messed with my modelling (over-)confidence because, for a relatively simple build, this one is really taking a long time to kick into gear!  :-\

And it hasn't been helped by the fact that, realising that this is going to go into a diorama, I need to include a crew - including the coxswain.

So I've been hunting through my figure sets for the parts to smash together into a Franken-cox to go into the pilot house.

I've also been working on mod's to the pilot house & the gun positions.

I hope to get three, maybe four builds done over the next few months ... At this rate I'll be lucky to get this one done!  :o :o
"This is the Captain. We have a little problem with our entry sequence, so we may experience some slight turbulence and, ah, explode."

Offline Buzzbomb

  • Low Concentration Span, oft wanders betwixt projects
  • Accurate Scale representations of fictional stuff
    • Club and my stuff site
Re: Here Come the Marines! (Part 1)
« Reply #5 on: April 13, 2026, 05:30:45 AM »
And it hasn't been helped by the fact that, realising that this is going to go into a diorama, I need to include a crew - including the coxswain.
So I've been hunting through my figure sets for the parts to smash together into a Franken-cox to go into the pilot house.

I have this set, well most of it, I have used a couple of figures. You are welcome to it if it helps. Although they are dressed for more cooler weather than Japanese summer.


Online Old Wombat

  • "We'll see when I've finished whether I'm showing off or simply embarrassing myself."
  • "Define 'interesting'?"
Re: Here Come the Marines! (Part 1)
« Reply #6 on: April 13, 2026, 11:42:30 PM »
Nah, it's fine, mate! I've bodged up a cox'n using bits from various figures from a MiniArt British Jeep Crew Set (35051) & some Aves.

Looking at photo's of WW2 RAN crewmen I discovered that the early iterations of the old No.8 & 8a uniforms were created for service in the Pacific Campaign



So far this is the only image of the No. 8s I could find online (a bit earlier than my era)



However, there's a fair chance the uniforms in the older photo are sand/khaki in colour, rather than blue.
« Last Edit: April 13, 2026, 11:45:19 PM by Old Wombat »
"This is the Captain. We have a little problem with our entry sequence, so we may experience some slight turbulence and, ah, explode."

Online Old Wombat

  • "We'll see when I've finished whether I'm showing off or simply embarrassing myself."
  • "Define 'interesting'?"
Re: Here Come the Marines! (Part 1)
« Reply #7 on: April 14, 2026, 01:04:40 AM »
This is the uniform I'm basing mine from - except with long trousers.


From: https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=10228428077280679&set=pcb.3698323413771187
"This is the Captain. We have a little problem with our entry sequence, so we may experience some slight turbulence and, ah, explode."

Online Old Wombat

  • "We'll see when I've finished whether I'm showing off or simply embarrassing myself."
  • "Define 'interesting'?"
Re: Here Come the Marines! (Part 1)
« Reply #8 on: April 17, 2026, 12:23:57 AM »
Where I'm at;





Actually, I've added some dark brown wash to the wheel since the photo's. so it doesn't look quite as "clean".
"This is the Captain. We have a little problem with our entry sequence, so we may experience some slight turbulence and, ah, explode."

Offline Claymore

  • It's all done with smoke and mirrors!
  • Alt Hist AFV guy with a thing for Bradley turrets
Re: Here Come the Marines! (Part 1)
« Reply #9 on: April 17, 2026, 02:05:56 AM »

Pass the razor saw, there is work to be done!

Online Old Wombat

  • "We'll see when I've finished whether I'm showing off or simply embarrassing myself."
  • "Define 'interesting'?"
Re: Here Come the Marines! (Part 1)
« Reply #10 on: April 17, 2026, 02:34:41 AM »
 :D :smiley:
"This is the Captain. We have a little problem with our entry sequence, so we may experience some slight turbulence and, ah, explode."

Offline Buzzbomb

  • Low Concentration Span, oft wanders betwixt projects
  • Accurate Scale representations of fictional stuff
    • Club and my stuff site
Re: Here Come the Marines! (Part 1)
« Reply #11 on: April 17, 2026, 04:39:13 AM »
So tick off the easy bit  :smiley:

Looks the business

Online Old Wombat

  • "We'll see when I've finished whether I'm showing off or simply embarrassing myself."
  • "Define 'interesting'?"
Re: Here Come the Marines! (Part 1)
« Reply #12 on: April 17, 2026, 04:51:50 PM »
Thanks, BT!  :smiley:

In all honesty, the whole kit part of the build should be the "easy bit", it's the figures & few mod's that are going to be the challenge.

We'll see how it pans out!  ;)
"This is the Captain. We have a little problem with our entry sequence, so we may experience some slight turbulence and, ah, explode."

Offline Frank3k

  • Excession
  • Global Moderator
  • Formerly Frank2056. New upgrade!
    • My new webpage
Re: Here Come the Marines! (Part 1)
« Reply #13 on: April 17, 2026, 10:40:34 PM »
That came out great! I love the brass dials.

Online Old Wombat

  • "We'll see when I've finished whether I'm showing off or simply embarrassing myself."
  • "Define 'interesting'?"
Re: Here Come the Marines! (Part 1)
« Reply #14 on: April 17, 2026, 11:20:14 PM »
Thanks, Frank!  :icon_alabanza:
"This is the Captain. We have a little problem with our entry sequence, so we may experience some slight turbulence and, ah, explode."

Online Old Wombat

  • "We'll see when I've finished whether I'm showing off or simply embarrassing myself."
  • "Define 'interesting'?"
Re: Here Come the Marines! (Part 1)
« Reply #15 on: April 19, 2026, 04:59:13 PM »
Back onto the build, this gives an idea of where I'll be going with the pilot house & guns;






Full steam ahead & damn the torpedoes!  ;D
"This is the Captain. We have a little problem with our entry sequence, so we may experience some slight turbulence and, ah, explode."

Online Old Wombat

  • "We'll see when I've finished whether I'm showing off or simply embarrassing myself."
  • "Define 'interesting'?"
Re: Here Come the Marines! (Part 1)
« Reply #16 on: April 24, 2026, 02:02:51 AM »
Movement is happening!

Puttying. Sanding. Repeat. Primer. Some of the first top-coat painting.

Nothing worthy of photo's.
"This is the Captain. We have a little problem with our entry sequence, so we may experience some slight turbulence and, ah, explode."

Offline Dr. YoKai

  • Was in High School when mastadons roamed the plains...
  • A notorious curmudgeon who is partial to...hemp!
Re: Here Come the Marines! (Part 1)
« Reply #17 on: April 25, 2026, 06:55:12 AM »
Looks pretty nice so far.

Online Old Wombat

  • "We'll see when I've finished whether I'm showing off or simply embarrassing myself."
  • "Define 'interesting'?"
Re: Here Come the Marines! (Part 1)
« Reply #18 on: April 25, 2026, 02:07:50 PM »
Thanks, Doc!  :smiley:
"This is the Captain. We have a little problem with our entry sequence, so we may experience some slight turbulence and, ah, explode."

Online Old Wombat

  • "We'll see when I've finished whether I'm showing off or simply embarrassing myself."
  • "Define 'interesting'?"
Re: Here Come the Marines! (Part 1)
« Reply #19 on: Yesterday at 07:36:36 PM »
This could be a bit macabre but here we go;

Petty Officer coxswain's head



Leading Seaman gunner's head



Able Seaman gunner's head



The first of each image is much larger than the actual figure heads & show far too many painting errors, still I'm not really a figure painter so I can live with it, the second image shows the head at close to real size (on my screen, anyway).


Now, a quick few questions for a quasi-poll;

A) Do I paint the LCM in one colour?
B) Do I paint the LCM in a splinter scheme?
C) Do I paint the LCM in a swirly/wavy scheme?
D) Do I paint the LCM in a blotchy scheme?

If you have an opinion, answer A, B, C, or D ... I will look at the answers in a few days & make my decision (which may/may not reflect the results of the quasi-poll).


Thanks for dropping by!  :D :D :D :smiley:
« Last Edit: Yesterday at 07:38:09 PM by Old Wombat »
"This is the Captain. We have a little problem with our entry sequence, so we may experience some slight turbulence and, ah, explode."

Offline Jeffry Fontaine

  • Unaffiliated Independent Subversive...and the last person to go for a trip on a Mexicana dH Comet 4
  • Global Moderator
  • His stash is able to be seen from space...
Re: Here Come the Marines! (Part 1)
« Reply #20 on: Yesterday at 08:51:10 PM »
What paint/colour scheme for the LCM?  I would have to say that would depend on when and where for the most part. 

Keeping it simple would be to just stick with one colour and be done with it.  So I suggest A as your option. 
"Every day we hear about new studies 'revealing' what should have been obvious to sentient beings for generations; 'Research shows wolverines don't like to be teased" -- Jonah Goldberg

Offline Buzzbomb

  • Low Concentration Span, oft wanders betwixt projects
  • Accurate Scale representations of fictional stuff
    • Club and my stuff site
Re: Here Come the Marines! (Part 1)
« Reply #21 on: Today at 06:46:41 AM »
For one, I like how the heads came up, that style works perfectly well for figures setting a scene for a vehicle.

Colour scheme, really any are appropriate, pending the where and the when, but as I know where and when, the Splinter style B is perhaps more in my taste

Online Old Wombat

  • "We'll see when I've finished whether I'm showing off or simply embarrassing myself."
  • "Define 'interesting'?"
Re: Here Come the Marines! (Part 1)
« Reply #22 on: Today at 03:01:00 PM »
Jeff, the when & where is, basically, described in the first post; it's Operation Downfall, so Japan, late-1945 ... Maybe a delayed version in late-1946.
"This is the Captain. We have a little problem with our entry sequence, so we may experience some slight turbulence and, ah, explode."